page_title: Green Bullfrog
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Green Bullfrog / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Hamburg
context_page_description: Green Bullfrog is a rock album recorded by an ad-hoc band of musicians under the guidance of producer Derek Lawrence. The bulk of the album was recorded over two sessions at De Lane Lea Studios, London in 1970, with later string and brass overdubs. It was originally released in 1971, with reissues in 1980 and 1991.
  For contractual reasons, the original album listed pseudonyms in the credits, which led to speculation as to who actually performed on the record. The musicians were eventually confirmed as including Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice, Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher, Chas & Dave's Chas Hodges and session guitarists Albert Lee and Big Jim Sullivan.
context_section_description: The album was the idea of producer Derek Lawrence, who assembled a group of musicians with whom he had worked in the 1960s.  Guitarist Albert Lee had been working with Lawrence as a session player, and the original idea had been to record with former Screaming Lord Sutch bassist Tony Dangerfield. However, the sessions did not work out, so the pair decided to invite other session musicians and Sutch alumni and record a studio jam. 
  The album was recorded in two overnight sessions on 20 April and 23 May 1970 at Kingsway Studios (later De Lane Lea Studios), London, starting at 11pm.  Deep Purple and former Lord Sutch guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had previously worked with Lawrence, and bought along Purple's drummer Ian Paice. Blackmore and Paice arrived at the studio directly from Deep Purple gigs on both occasions. Session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan was invited as he had originally taught Blackmore how to play guitar and was greatly admired by him. Guitarist Rod Alexander was friends with Blackmore and worked in a music shop on nearby Charing Cross Road. He arrived at the session to deliver some guitar strings, and was persuaded to stay. All the musicians had wanted to play together for some time, but were too busy with touring or session work to do so. Singer Earl Jordan had been doing sessions with the Les Humphries Singers. He put down guide vocals during the main session, then re-recorded all his parts after everyone else had left.
  A few originals (penned by Lawrence) were played, as well as many blues-inflected covers of rock songs. Sullivan rearranged Lawrence's "Lovin' You (Is Good For Me Baby)" in  compound time to make it more interesting to play. The guitar workout instrumental "Bullfrog" is basically the Deep Purple song "Jam Stew", which Purple had originally performed for a BBC session. Blackmore played the main riff once to Sullivan and Lee, who both immediately created guitar harmonies around it. The track also features Tony Ashton on Hammond organ. Blackmore and Lawrence had both wanted to record a cover of The Creation's "Makin' Time" since Deep Purple were first formed, and the session gave them a chance to do so.
  For contractual reasons, the musicians were billed under pseudonyms. Lee was called "Pinta" after an in-joke where he would say "I'm only delivering the milk!" after a second take of a song was requested. Ashton was called "Bevy" because he liked to keep bottles of light ale under his organ. Bassist Chas Hodges (later one half of Chas 'n' Dave) took the name "Sleepy" due to his habit of falling asleep at sessions. Blackmore was called "Boots" because he frequently wore suede cowboy boots, while Sullivan was nicknamed "The Boss" due to his respect from the others as one of the best session players. Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher, who played piano on the album, was named "Sorry" after his reputation of apologising if another take was required. Alexander was called "The Vicar" after Lawrence's habit of saying "hello, vicar" to him, and Paice was nicknamed "Speedy" owing to his fast playing style.
  The album was completed with strings and brass overdubs on 4 January 1971. Despite rumours at the time, Jeff Beck, Roger Glover and Jon Lord do not appear on any of the sessions.
caption: Ritchie Blackmore attended the two Green Bullfrog sessions straight after gigs with Deep Purple
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